Incredible Night at Incredible Machine

While walking through downtown Nashville, on the way to pre-concert dinner at B.B. King’s, David said the reviews he’d read of Sugarland’s Incredible Machine album was that it seemed to be written for a concert tour with audience call-outs and less substance than previous albums.

Hmmm. I didn’t know. I only knew three songs off the new album before the concert. But I could see the reviewers point; the songs seemed to have the potential for a lot of audience participation moments in a concert tour. And having now been to the concert, Sugarland certainly took those opportunities and encouraged lots of audience interaction. But then the song Little Miss and the title track Incredible Machine seemed to have a lot of substance to it too. So maybe the reviewer wasn’t wrong but maybe they weren’t exactly right either. Maybe both were true?

I still don’t know but don’t really care either because Sugarland delivered an awesome show and the songs seemed to have a whole lot of depth and relevance too.

The show was — simply put — fun! Opening were Matt Nathanson and Little Big Town. I could’ve done with a little more Nathanson and little less Little Big Town, but that’s personal preference.

Sugarland performed nearly every song on the new album plus some of the “old stuff” like Baby Girl and Stay. They incorporated a few covers into the show — one of which included a remix/montage of songs by Britney, Beyonce and Madonna.

When they performed Stuck Like Glue, David and I sang along together, although at one point I was actually singing Stuck Like Goo (lol), which was fun. The kids know that song well, and all four of us sometimes sing and dance to it in the living room.

At one point is doubtful about whether we’d get to go; childcare plans fell through at the last minute and we had to scramble to make plans for the boys to be with parents. I’m so glad we were able to figure that out. It was such a good time and sometimes what you need in life is just to have a good time.

“I need a little less hard time. I need a little more bliss.” — Sugarland, Settlin’